Programme maker Jaap van de Klomp says goodbye to ‘Concertzender Live’. on Saturday 31 December at 14:00 CET. He does this by presenting the first episode of his new series Past-Present-Future! P-P-F is a triptych: music from three different sources and times. Today: Kika Sprangers with her Alto for Two, the Sun-Mi Hong Quintet, and the Swiss formation ITAKIRY (see photo).
Recent Past
JvdK: “One of my favorite groups is Alto for Two. This is a trio consisting of Kika Sprangers on alto and soprano sax, Irene Reig on alto sax, Xavi Torres on piano, Thomas Pol on double bass and Sun-Mi Hong on drums. Such a wonderful band in which three fantastic women more or less call the shots.”
On November 28, 2021, Alto for Two played in TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. All five musicians contributed compositions. The pieces are varied in character, tempo and structure and they provide plenty of surprises. The quality of the ensemble work is high, as are the solos.
Present
In Alto for Two we heard Sun-Mi Hong as drummer and as composer (Thoughts To Be Spoken). On the brand new album Third Page: Resonance by the Sun-Mi Hong Quintet, all the compositions are by her. First Page and Second Page appeared in 2017 and 2020. They are, in her own words, ‘chronicles of her artistic life’. That artistic life has brought her international recognition within a few years.
“Sun-Mi Hong’s compositions have a great tension and continue to fascinate because composition and free passages merge seamlessly. Subtle and probing rhythms alternate with driving percussion.”
At least this was the opinion of the jury who awarded her an Edison Award in 2021.
Future
JvdK: “This is music that I hope will play a role in our musical well-being in the future.”
ITAKIRY (2022) is the first album by the Swiss formation of the same name, an essemble consisting of vocalist Chiara Schönfeld and a piano trio. Itakiry is Schönfeld’s third given name. It means: water that flows from the rocks. That image – for those who are sensitive to it – can easily be used to describe the music.
The sound streams start slowly. Thin lines of bass, piano and percussion slowly weave into a resonanting sound. The musical material remains limited, with a lot of repetition. Above it Schönfeld’s high, clear, often vulnerable voice hovers with her poetical lyrics. There are also textless passages, supplemented here and there with backing vocals. In both pieces, Tundra and Sailor’s Song, the dynamics slowly increase through a crescendo to a climax – most intensely, even impetuously, in Sailor’s Song. Finally we return to the beginning, ending in silence…
Click here for the playlist.
Past-Present-Future — Jaap van de Klomp
